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LA MAMA SPOLETO OPEN 2016
Concerto Spettacolo per Elizabeth Swados
A concert performance inspired by the life and artistic career of famed American composer and director Elizabeth "Liz" Swados, known for her eclectic talent and inexhaustible creative spirit. Recently deceased, Liz Swados--whose greatest international success was probably the musical show Runaways--wrote, composed and directed plays and musicals, but she also wrote numerous novels, poetry collections, children's books, created drawings and animations. _The Girl with the Incredible Feeling _reconstructs the artist's multifaceted artistic imagination in a swirl of scenes that interweave moments of her personal life with others that see her intent on her work. Fragments from from some of her finest works also recount, through the highly original journey of this great artist, the evolution of American musical theater in a journey from the 1970s to the present day. The title of the performance is taken from from a children's book, from she wrote, set to music and animated in 1976, which tells the story of a special girl with an extraordinary spirit, how she lost her spirit, only to find it again.
libretto and music** Elizabeth Swados**
music director** Kris Kukul**
choir direction Claudio Scarabottini
with the extraordinary participation of Starr Busby
musicians
**Francesco Savoretti **percussion
**Gionni Di Clemente **guitar, oud, mandolin, bouzouki
**Paolo Rosichetti **bass
voices Olivia Volpi, Agnese Fallongo
singing choir of the Bisse Association
stage adaptation and direction Andrea Paciotto
organizational direction and production** Adriana Garbagnati**
technical director **Paolo Pannaccio **
archival images** Liz Swados Archive and La MaMa Archives **
show made possible thanks to the contribution of **Roz Lichter **
Composer, writer and director who recently passed away. Perhaps her greatest international success was the musical show Runaways. Her other works include: the famous Fragments of to Greek Trilogy, an Obie award-winning play created with director Andrei Serban and produced by La MaMa Theatre; Alice at the Palace with Meryl Streep, presented at the New York Shakespeare Theater Festival; Groundhog optioned from Milos Forman to make a film of it. His plays have been presented at Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, La MaMa Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, and numerous theaters and festivals around the world. He has also composed music for dance performances, collaborating with leading choreographers in the United States, Europe, and South America. Recent productions include _Kaspar Hauser: foundling's opera _presented at the Flea Theater in New York City, Atonement, a theatrical oratorio presented at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, an adaptation of S. Ansky's The Dybbuq for New York University, Spider Operas at PS122 with the famous Mabou Mines company, and _Political Subversities _a kind of political cabaret that was presented at the Public Theatre in New York City. In addition to theater, Swados has written and published novels, nonfiction books, children's books, and poetry to great acclaim, and received the Ken award for her book My Depression. Her theater manual, _At Play: Teaching Teenagers Theater _was published from Faber&Faber in June 2006. While his most recent book of poems, The One and Only human Galaxy, has just been published from Hanging Loose Press. She also recently finished recording the new children's CD Everyone is Different, in collaboration with Forward Face. Elisabeth has received numerous awards during her career: five Tony nominations, three Obie awards, Guggenheim Fellowship, Ford Grant, Helen Hayes Award, Lila Acheson Wallace Grant, PeN Citation, and others.